


Unscripted

by steph7of7



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-21
Updated: 2015-09-21
Packaged: 2018-04-22 18:48:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4846412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/steph7of7/pseuds/steph7of7
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is Elliot's side of the Sealview fallout.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Flubbing a Line

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this back in 2009. It's set after that one episode, you know, when Olivia goes undercover in the women's prison and almost (?) gets raped by that guard?

It started early with her. As soon as it happened, he asked. She denied. 

What happened, he'd said. Nothing, she'd replied. 

He thought, so this is how it's going to be.

***

Elliot has never and will never patronize Olivia. He respects her completely as a cop, as a partner, as a friend, as a human being. 

But she moved on, so he figures he should move on, too. But he watches her. 

So when Alicia Callahan, 22 years old from Brooklyn, is raped and beaten outside a nightclub, and is found stumbling, barely walking but still in her fuck-me heels, bleeding but still in her slinky dress, one eye black with a bruise, the other eye just black from make-up--and Elliot and Olivia show up and Olivia doesn't follow the script that they have memorized after ten years of Alicia Callahans, Elliot doesn't just let it slide. He files it away.

Alicia Callahan, 22 years old from Brooklyn, sits in an ambulance, and looks at Olivia with tear-filled eyes and says, "I don't know why I wore this dress. I never do my make-up like this."

When the vic is desperate for reassurance, the cop provides it. It's just another passion play over at SVU. 

Olivia is supposed to say, "Alicia, this is not your fault. You did not ask to be raped."

She starts to say it--Elliot can hear her. But the words get stuck somewhere in her throat. So even though he's standing behind Liv and Liv has her hand on Alicia's shoulder, and clearly the line belongs to Olivia, it is Elliot who says, "Alicia, this is not your fault. You did not ask to be raped." 

This annoys him. Why would Liv slip on something so basic?

He can't think about it for too long. Nothing happened. She's fine.

(He never read the file on Harris. He can't do that to her.)

***

A few nights later, while watching TV with Kathy (Eli's already asleep and the twins are probably up in their rooms), Elliot asks her, "Is it easier to share secrets with strangers?"

It takes Kathy a couple of beats to answer, and when she does, it's wry. "You tell me."

He furrows his brow and opens his mouth, but closes it again. He doesn't want to fight.

Kathy presses, "Are you talking me personally or you personally or somebody else?"

"I'm talking in general."

"In general, if you're scared of being judged for a deep dark secret, it might be easier to talk to a stranger."

"Kath, I know that."

"El, you asked."

"But I wasn't talking about that. What if something bad happened--something that mattered to both of us. Would you talk about it to me?"

Kathy sticks out her jaw in challenge. "Would you talk about it to me?"

Elliot doesn't hesitate. "Yes."

"You're a liar. You wouldn't."

For the second time that night, Elliot stifles his own retort. Again, Kathy picks up the slack in the conversation. "Elliot, what is this about?"

"It's..." But he doesn't know what it was about. It's about a bruise on Olivia's jaw. And restraint marks on her wrists. And Elliot standing outside the two-way when Olivia questioned Harris, and Olivia's voice ringing in his memory, "...tried to rape me!" And Nothing and I'm Fine, Elliot. And it's eating at him and shouldn't it be eating at her? "It's nothing." I'm fine, Kathy. 

(It was only three weeks ago.)


	2. Wooden Performance

Frank Delano, 47, is just your everyday homegrown garden-variety perp. There is nothing special about him. They like him for the rapes of two professional women. Fin and Lake had been sweating him in Interview One for a while with no luck. They don't have enough forensics to nail him, but he's their guy. They all know his type--hates women, hates to see them in positions of power, so Cragen sends Olivia and Elliot in to take their turn and play their part.

Elliot and Frank sit across from each other at the table, talking jovially for a while. They talk about whatever stupid shit Elliot can come up with. Coffee. The weather. Olivia leans against the back wall behind Elliot, quiet. She's supposed to be watching them with narrowed eyes, but when Elliot glances at her, she's just staring. Blank. And Elliot is quickly running out of stupid shit to discuss with Frank. 

Olivia is supposed to be interrupting. She's supposed to be blustery. She's supposed to grab this guy by the collar, cuss him out, maybe smack him a little bit. Shit, Elliot's seen her go for Emmys in their very own interview room, but she doesn't even seem to be with him tonight.

Elliot clears his throat loudly and hopes that she picks up on his desperate cue: "Look, Frank, we hate to have to do this, but my partner and I have to talk to you." He puts delicate emphasis on the word "partner" and continues, "There's been a couple of rapes recently, and I gotta tell you, Frank, that things are not looking good for you." He is relieved to hear Olivia rousing herself from behind him. 

Frank spares her a single glance, then looks back at Elliot. "What do you need from me?"

Elliot pauses again, not sure if Olivia's going to start following the script here or if he needs to keep filling in. But she still hasn't come up to the table yet, so he keeps on trucking. "Well, Frank, if you've got an alibi for Tuesday night or Saturday night, that could help us a lot. We could clear you right up and get you out of here."

"Sorry, man. I live alone."

Finally, Olivia has made her way over to the side of their cozy tête-à-tête. She leans over, both palms flat on the table but her face is still a good three feet away from Frank's. She barely even makes eye contact with him. "Save it, Frank. You raped those women and you know it." 

Her voice is way too flat, and she backs off immediately. Elliot fumbles a bit, not sure if he can keep going like this, with Olivia barely there. The interview would probably be easier if she weren't there at all--as it is, he's worried about her next step. He can't get a read on her right now. "Look, Frank. Detective Benson here may be convinced of your guilt, but I disagree. I think you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and as soon as we find a hair or something at one of the crime scenes, we can let you go."

Olivia is moving again, but toward the door. Startled, Elliot asks her, "Leaving so soon?"

Liv stops, one hand already on the door handle. She shakes her head and pouts her lip--both of these are tiny motions, but Elliot has worked with her a while and he sees them. She says, "I'm done here. I'm sure you can handle this on your own." 

Then she's gone. She hadn't even looked at him.

It's like bad vaudeville. Even when they do it right, Elliot can't believe perps still fall for this shit. But tonight, with Olivia's lackluster performance...Elliot does not have a good feeling about getting a confession out of Frank Delano. 

He doesn't even say anything for a few moments. He can't shake his partner from his mind. She acted like she was almost afraid of him.

Olivia. Afraid of Frank Delano, 47, average perp, nothing special about him. Balding. Medium height, medium weight. Kinda jowly. Had shaken...Olivia?

Elliot can't wrap his brain around it. But one thing he does know: because of Olivia, he will likely get nowhere with Frank. 

But this guy is so hungry for an ally that he buys the whole thing. After Elliot's prolonged silence, Frank leans in over the table: "Women, eh?" 

Elliot nods, tight-lipped. "Women." He realizes that he might be able to salvage this. Frank must see that Olivia has just thrown Elliot for a loop, and that might work as well as the original plan.

Frank goes on, "You know, I can understand why she would want this job, actually. Standing up for her fellow women, the ones she thinks have been done wrong. Hell, maybe someone did her once and it got too rough, and she's just taking it out on every man she sees now. But you? Why do you do this?"

Elliot swallows. "I see a lot of guys come through that door who don't deserve what they get. I just want to help them." It's a lie he's repeated often. It's getting harder to tell. He's suddenly finding it difficult to feign sympathy for Frank Delano. 

"You know...I wonder."

"What do you wonder, Frank?"

"Uptight bitch like that. Sometimes..."

"Sometimes what?"

"Sometimes they just need a little loosening up."

It's not a confession. Not even close. Elliot has to steer this thing. "Between you and me, I've tried everything with that bitch. She's just gonna do what she wants to do." 

"Believe me, I've handled much worse than her."

"Oh yeah? Like who?"

"Who doesn't matter."

"Then what does matter, Frank?"

"How."

"Well, by all means, tell me how."

"You know."

"Believe me Frank, if I knew, I wouldn't have a partner like her telling me what to do all the damn time." 

"You just gotta...put her in her place. Give it to her. She'll say no, but she won't mean it."

Elliot leans in, but he's having a hard time schooling his features. And suddenly he discovers that he is much less worried about the way Olivia acted than the way this asshole is talking about her. He doesn't try to say anything; doesn't trust his voice.

Frank goes on, "You could make her beg, you know." He sits back, laughs at his own suggestion. When Elliot remains frozen, Frank leans in and whispers. "If you want, I could do her for you. Solve your problems. Just let me know."

Elliot knows this is not a confession either. He also knows that Olivia does not need his protection and is watching on the other side of the two-way, and that she would be pissed if he does what he wants to do. 

Which is why it surprises him so much when he stands up, picks up Frank Delano by his shirt, shoves him against the wall, and is able to get in three good punches before Cragen and Fin can pull him off. 

When he stops seeing red, he finds Olivia glaring at him. She turns on her heel and marches out into the squad room. He shrugs off Cragen and Fin and marches after her. He hasn't got the fight out of him yet.

"Olivia! Olivia!"

She's at her desk, but she doesn't look at him. She's the only one in the squad room acting like she can't hear him. Everyone else is tuned in like it's a goddamned tennis match.

Elliot persists. "What the hell was that?"

This gets her attention. "You're asking me?"

"Yeah, I'm asking you! You were crap in there just now! We've got a job to do and it seems like I'm the only one doing it!"

"Oh, and you're doing a fine job, too!"

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

"Wha-- Y-- You can't keep doing that shit, Elliot! Beating up perps?"

"Yeah? Well I need you to be able to do your job!"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You were supposed to go after him! Yell at him! You couldn't even manage to get in his face, Olivia! It's like you were scared of him or something!"

"God damn it, Elliot, it is not my fault you just beat the shit out of another perp, so don't even fucking try to blame this on me."

"Things sure would have gone smoother if you'd been on your game!"

"Stop blaming me and stop acting like you're pissed because of Frank Delano."

"What are you talking about?"

"You tell me! Is it your marriage? Your kids? Whatever--you need to deal with your shit and stop acting like a--a--"

And that's it for Elliot. Whatever insult Olivia is looking for, he's not going to wait around for her to find it. They've just had a yelling match in front of the whole squad. Neither of them particularly cares. But Liv just aimed below the belt and missed. It doesn't matter; her cheap shot goads him into striking. 

He's going in for the kill, but for all his anger, he still respects her too much to yell his parting shot. So he moves in close to speak quietly in her ear. She instinctively tries to back away, but he catches her by the elbow. He rumbles in a low voice, "Liv, you are a fine example for dealing with your own shit. You were afraid of Frank, for reasons that have nothing to do with him." 

He lets her go and storms out of the squad room. He'll sort things out with Cragen later. 

(It's been four months already. Things should be getting easier, not harder.)

(He hadn't gone to the trial. She hadn't asked him to.)


	3. Improvisation

Cragen won't let Elliot anywhere near the squad unless he talks to Huang first. Elliot knew it was coming, but even after all these years, he still doesn't see the point. It's not like he's going to wake up one day and find that he loves talking to the resident shrink.

He goes anyway. Elliot's got a job to do and so does Huang. It's nothing personal.

"Well, Doc, the problem is this. Kathy says that it's easier to talk to strangers because they can't judge you. I just know you too well, is all."

"Is that why you don't talk to Olivia?"

"I talk to Olivia." But he knows what Huang means.

"Elliot..."

"It's Olivia who doesn't talk to me." 

"Is that what's bothering you?"

"Is what what's bothering me? Doc, I don't know anything. You tell me--isn't that your job?"

"She's your partner."

"Yeah. Thanks."

"You're supposed to protect her."

All of Elliot's bluster deflates immediately. Huang's simple statement tears him in five different directions, and he has no idea which one is right. One: punch the good doctor. Two: Olivia did need him and he failed her. Three: Olivia is a proud independent person and does not want his protection. Four: Olivia is a proud independent woman who still needs his protection. Five: He has no right to that. She didn't even ask him to go to the trial.

Elliot responds with the bald truth: "I didn't." He didn't protect her. He doesn't even know how anymore. Maybe it's too late, anyway.

"Elliot, Olivia does not blame you. Stop blaming yourself."

"God, Doc, that's the problem."

"What is?"

"When I stop blaming myself...I start blaming her."

"Elliot...that's perfectly normal."

Elliot laughs with no humor. "I know it is. I see it all the time." 

George Huang makes his sympathetic face. "Talk to her."

***

It's the middle of the day, and it's her day off. It's his third day off in a row--involuntary--and he can't wait his whole life for this conversation. He finds himself standing at her apartment door--he let himself into the building, but doesn't feel comfortable barging into her place. He knocks and knocks, wondering uselessly if he should've called first. 

When she finally opens the door, he just says, "Are you dealing with it?" 

She's taken aback, and doesn't answer right away. 

He fills the unbearable silence. "I'm dealing with it. Badly. Turns out, I'm just like any vic's boyfriend. I understand it all, to a point. And after that point, I just start...hating you because I...think you should have done better. So, I'm sorry. I wish I was better at being a sensitive, understanding partner. I don't really blame you. The cop in me hates that I'm feeling this, like I should know better. But the part of me that's not a cop thinks that the cop in you shoulda known better in the first place."

He has no idea how he said that much without any interruption. She didn't so much as hold up a finger, even though he was half afraid she would punch him. She still doesn't say anything, just looks at his cheek. Hard. No tears. She works her jaw a little bit, but doesn't seem intent on speaking.

He's still standing in the hall, she's still standing in her open doorway. He doesn't know what to say, doesn't feel right asking himself in, so he just keeps opening his mouth and spilling words. "Do you blame me for what happened? Huang says you don't. I think you should, it would even things up a bit." 

He really wishes he hadn't said about three-fourths of what he has said. Maybe nine-tenths. But Olivia finally says something. "I do blame you, a little."

This is actually a relief to hear. "Good. Good. That's good." 

"It's...actually pretty fucked up, Elliot."

"No, no, it makes me feel better."

"Well, then, I blame you a lot."

Sometimes he can't tell if she's joking. He grins, anyway. "Liv...it's just...you're my partner." He wants to say more than that, but he's not sure what. 

"And you're mine."

He reaches for her through the doorway, clasps her shoulder. He holds on a minute and looks at her with narrowed eyes. He nods slightly, exhales and moves to leave.

"Elliot--"

He stops in the hall, turns and looks.

"I'm seeing someone." He understands what she means, but she feels the need to clarify: "A shrink."

"That helping?"

She stares for a moment, considering. Then shakes her head. "You know, this shouldn't be any different than when you went undercover and got beat up by a drug dealer."

He shakes his head. "It shouldn't be."

"But it is."

He transitions to nodding. "It is."

"It's not fair at all, you know."

"Yeah, I know."

He has done nothing but agree with her, and she seems to realize it. She grins broadly at him and says, "Kathy's trained you well."

He nods bigger. "Yes, she has."

Her smile grows even more, and he thinks he might even see her shoulders shaking a little bit with laughter. "Go home, El."

"Yes, ma'am." She is still smiling at him though, so he thinks it's safe to say, "We're gonna be okay, Liv." He nods at her one more time and leaves.

(It's been more than four months, and maybe they're finally making forward progress.)


	4. Adaptation

It's barely a week later and Elliot's been cleared for work for a whole forty-five minutes when they catch a case. The hospital calls about a boy named Tommy Brown, four years old, bleach poisoning. It could be accidental but it's standard to look into these things. One or both parents are always suspects.

Nobody likes cases involving kids, and nobody likes questioning parents. But over the years, Olivia and Elliot have eased the strain by devising a foolproof system to decide who questions which parent. As soon as they get in the squad car, they play paper-rock-scissors. 

It took them years to refine this technique. At first, Elliot used to always default to questioning the dad and Olivia the mom, but Elliot kept getting punched by overwrought fathers. So, one fateful case many years ago, they decided to play paper-rock-scissors and the winner would question the mom. Elliot won and questioned the mom, and the overwrought woman ended the interview by punching Elliot. 

Since then, the winner of paper-rock-scissors simply won the privilege of choosing which parent to question, but only after meeting them together and getting a quick read on the situation. This arrangement worked well--there has only been once or twice when the winner picked the parent that the loser would have chosen. 

Elliot and Olivia have always complemented each other well. 

Olivia shoots rock. Elliot shoots scissors and acts wounded. She smirks.

He is keenly aware that this is their first case together since the whole Frank Delano debacle. They're treating each other with kid gloves, and talking with her feels like an out-of-body experience--he's monitoring his words and actions so closely. Everything's an act.

***

They find Tommy Brown's parents waiting in the hall outside his hospital room. The couple are holding hands as they look through the window into the room. 

Olivia leads--it's her right, since she won the game. By the rules of the game, Olivia does the talking until she gets her read and makes her pick. "Mr. and Mrs. Brown?" The pair look up, tearful and confused, and that's enough for Olivia to continue. "I'm Detective Benson and this is Detective Stabler. We understand that Tommy drank some bleach?"

"Oh. Yes," the woman says. "Actually, it's Lane. I'm Rebecca, this is my husband Mike. Tommy's my son from a previous relationship."

"How is Tommy doing?"

They already know the answer--they've just talked to the nurse. Tommy's been in a coma since the Lanes brought him in. He's got major damage to his stomach and esophagus and his condition is touch and go. 

Rebecca Lane tries to tell them this, but can't. It's Mike Lane who speaks up, and his voice is gravelly. "It doesn't look good." 

"I'm very sorry to hear that. Listen, I hate to have to do this, but in cases like this, the police are required to investigate. Ma'am, can you come with me?"

Elliot's glad of her choice--he wants the chance to talk to the dad. Or step-dad, as the case may be. Mike Lane seems a little too supportive and a little too good to be true. Elliot moves over to stand next to him, looking through the window into Tommy's room. 

Elliot starts off easy, like always. "How long you two been married?"

"Uhhhh...ten months?"

Elliot nods and continues. "Does Tommy live with you full-time?"

"Yes, of course." His tone is offended, but he back-pedals quickly. "I mean--I don't mean anything. It's just that Tommy's real dad isn't really in the picture."

"How do you feel about having a step-son?"

Mike nods, like he knew the question was coming. He answers slowly, as if considering his words. "I always wanted kids, and Tommy's a good one to have. I didn't do this to him. I wouldn't. I love him." His voice is deep and filled with emotion. 

"Already? After just ten months?"

This time, Mike shoots off a retort: "We dated a year before that. Anyway, what's that supposed to mean? Don't you have kids?"

Elliot backs off the tiniest bit. "Yeah, I do."

"How long did it take before you loved them?"

Elliot looks Mike Lane in the eye, hoping to show that he is trustworthy and on his side, and says, "Not very long at all."

This guy is all over the place--sorrowful, angry, remorseful, lashing out. In short, he's acting guilty as hell. The problem is that most dads whose kids end up in the hospital tend to act this way. Elliot soldiers on, "What happened, Mike?" 

"I don't even know, that's the thing."

"What can you tell me?"

"Nothing--when I came home, Tommy was sick, we brought him up here...that's it."

"Where were you before you came home?"

"Work."

"What time did you come home?"

"About 9:30, 10:00 this morning."

"Graveyard shift?"

"No--I work regular hours. I just...I forgot my cell phone this morning. So I had to go back home for it. Of all stupid things."

"Where was your wife when you came home?"

"She was home."

"Was she with Tommy?"

"No...she was on the computer. Facebook or whatever. I don't know--my wife is into that stuff."

"So you stopped in to get your cell phone, said hello to your wife...where was Tommy?"

"In his room."

"You saw him in his room?"

"Well, yeah."

"Why?"

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Why'd you check on him? Weren't you in a hurry?"

"Well--yeah. I just wanted to...check on him. I don't know."

"What'd you find?"

"He was sick. Clutching his throat and having spasms. He didn't even seem to notice I was there. I ran to get Becky and we brought him here."

***

He and Olivia discussed their interviews on the way back to the precinct. 

"She called Tommy baggage, Elliot. Like, 'I'm so lucky Mike still loves me, even with all my baggage.'"

He "hmm"s noncommittally. 

"What'd you get on him?"

"His story might work--I don't know. I can see it better if they're both in on this somehow. He claims it's just coincidence he was even home this morning. And he just happened to check on Tommy while he was there."

"Well, she claims she was just minding her own business all morning and had no idea anything was wrong at all until dear hubby came home and called her into Tommy's room. I'll tell you one thing: even if she didn't poison the kid outright, she's guilty of criminal negligence."

***

They report back to Cragen as soon as they get back to the station house. 

Cragen asks, "So what's the story?"

Olivia answers, "I like the mom for it. She sure cried where she was supposed to, but when she was describing her morning and how they found Tommy, she was just...flat. Emotionless. And I think she has motive."

Elliot is surprised to hear this. "Really? What motive?"

She looks at him with one eye narrowed, but turns back and addresses her response to Cragen. "She wants her old life out of the way. Out with the old, in with the new. Rebecca Lane wants a totally new life with her husband, so she kills her son."

Elliot can't let this go. "After being married ten whole months? That's a long time to wait."

Now she responds directly to Elliot, and he kind of wishes she wouldn't. "Stranger things have happened, Elliot. Maybe she just wanted to make sure the new relationship would last before she did anything rash."

He feels properly chastised, and nods his head. Cragen asks, "What about the step-dad?"

"Ahhh, I couldn't really get a read on him, Cap. He acted guilty and shell-shocked. He might've poisoned the kid and can't quite believe it worked--or didn't work. Or he might just be a loving dad who is horrified at the tragedy." 

"So, is this case worth pursuing?"

Olivia answers for them, and Elliot lets her. "I think so, Captain."

"How should we go forward, then?"

"I want to bring the mom in and search the house."

Cragen studies them both for a moment. "Elliot, what do you think?"

Elliot fumbles his response a bit. He knows that Olivia's mommy issues are well-documented and quite real. If there was ever the tiniest thing off about any mother, Liv tended to latch on to it and not let go. Besides that, it's quite possible that Tommy had been living a dream that Olivia held herself once: a loving father suddenly enters the picture and steps into the role comfortably. 

So when he responds to Cragen, his voice is maybe overly bright. "I...uh...I think Olivia's probably on the right track." 

He doesn't, really. But it's a white lie: searching the apartment would likely turn up more clues than would questioning either parent further. Perhaps it would have been more honest for Elliot to say, "I think Olivia's dead wrong, but she'll find the answer anyway." But their relationship is still bruised, and now is not the time for that particular kind of honesty.

Despite Elliot's transparent appeasement of his partner, Olivia still gives him a tiny smile as he speaks the words. He's still got her back, and now she knows it. 

Cragen shakes his head and looks at them tiredly. "I almost like it better when you two are fighting. Whenever you guys are in this makeup honeymoon period, it's just the two of you against the world. Whatever. I hope you're right. Bring in Mommy Dearest, and I'll call about a search warrant."

***

Fin and Lake search the Lanes' apartment and find a bottle of bleach under the sink, and the only prints on it belong to Rebecca Lane. 

The evidence is circumstantial but strong. A confession would help a lot, and Elliot and Olivia are both present for the interview. But it's Olivia's show. 

"Explain the bleach, Rebecca."

"I use the bleach! Of course my prints are on the bottle! I bought it!"

"Your prints on the bleach don't interest me. What I wanna know is, why aren't Tommy's prints on the bottle?"

"I don't know! This is crap! I want to see my son!" 

Olivia changes gears instantly. "Mike's with Tommy now. Mike's a really good guy, Rebecca."

Rebecca is still pouting. "I know he is."

"I'm sure he's taking really good care of Tommy, just like he takes really good care of you."

Rebecca nods, placated for the moment.

Olivia starts in again, "You're very lucky to have Mike, you know? I mean, I know how hard it is--dating, looking for the right guy. I can't imagine how hard that must've been with a kid."

"It was hard, but Mike wants kids, so it worked out."

Elliot senses the tiniest of openings here, and Olivia deftly pries it wide open. "Does Mike want his own kids?"

"Yeah! In fact--in fact, I just found out last week that I'm pregnant!"

Olivia throws Elliot a knowing glance and he acknowledges it. Liv was right about this lady: out with the old, in with the new.

Olivia continues, "That's great news, Rebecca! Does Mike know yet?"

"No, not yet. It just hasn't seemed like the right time. Maybe now...maybe he could use some good news."

"That would make him really happy--to finally have a kid that's his."

"I know! And the new one will look like Mike, too."

"Did Tommy look like his own father?"

"Yeah. Yeah he did." Rebecca's voice is getting harder. "Just like him."

Meanwhile, Olivia's voice is getting softer. "Is that why you made him drink bleach, Rebecca?"

Now, Rebecca is angry and defiant. "We're all better off this way, you know. So don't judge me. Don't you dare judge me."

Elliot takes a deep breath and shakes his head. 

***

When they walk out of the interview room, Cragen informs them that the hospital called. Tommy Brown just died--Rebecca Lane will be charged with his murder. 

It's a small case, heart-wrenching as they all are. There's no happy ending here. But Liv was right, and she was on her game. She played the lady and knew what buttons to push. At the end of it, as they're putting on their coats to go home, Olivia catches Elliot staring at her. 

"What?" she says.

"Nothing," he says. But his eyes are narrow and he's half-grinning. 

She rolls her eyes in response, tries not to smile, and they head home. As they wait for the elevator, he says to her, "It's good to be back." Even he's not sure which one of them he's talking about.

(He starts to think they're going to be okay, despite themselves.)


End file.
